Matthew Busch | MLive.comDonald Turner, center, and his son David Turner, left, listen to music this afternoon during the GRandJazzFest in Rosa Parks Circle. Donald Turner Sr. had his own band, the DHT Blues Band some years ago.

GRAND RAPIDS – Rosa Parks Circle has been filling up all day for the GRandJazzFest, the first all-day jazz festival in downtown Grand Rapids.

More than 1,000 were downtown for the afternoon, but more were expected for Detroit guitarist Tim Bowman to cap off the evening with a smooth jazz groove from the Motor City.

Lina and David Gerchak, from Novi, also in the Detroit area, were exactly the kind of people organizers hoped to see for the festival.

The Gerchaks drove to Grand Rapids early this afternoon, booked a hotel for the evening, and were sorting out where to have dinner during the break as saxophonist Phil Denny, from Lansing, set up for his set, just ahead of Bowman.

The couple said they had been to Grand Rapids just twice before. But they heard about the festival and decided to make a weekend of it to celebrate David Gerchak’s birthday.

“We usually go out for our birthdays, so we picked Grand Rapids,” Lina Gerchak said.

The Gerchak’s, seated in a grassy area in the Maya Lin’s pocket park, “Ecliptic,” said they especially enjoyed Grupo Aye, the Cuban-influenced jazz ensemble from Grand Rapids.

“It had a nice feel, and you can move to it,” she said. “But they’ve all been good.”

Denny, a recent newcomer to Michigan’s jazz scene, released his first album, “Crossover,” a little more than three weeks ago, and plans to have a special guest along for his one-hour set beginning at 6:45 p.m.

Bowman, a former guitarist with The Winans, and Billboard’s 2009 Top 10 Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year, takes the stage at 8:15 p.m.

The inaugural festival is sponsored by the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority, with help from the West Michigan Jazz Association.